Stranded
by Poison Heart205
Summary: It all started off as the usual simple mission, look at some ruins catalog things that look interesting and talk to the locals. But it didn't stay simple for long, catastrophe strikes leaving Coronal O'neill and Major Carter stranded on an unknown planet without any way of getting home. With feelings and arguments being dragged up, life gets pretty tough for these two officers.
1. Chapter 1

The day started as any other day on the base, Daniel and myself met Teal'c at the mess to grab some breakfast at 0630 and then made our way up to the squad room for our usual morning debriefing, then our commanding officer Coronel Jack O'Neill would just about make it in time with his morning cross word puzzle and coffee in his hand.

Coronal O'Neill and Daniel put a bet on nearly every day. Jack always bet that he could finish a cross word puzzle correctly, whereas Daniel bet that he couldn't without help, which is why I had a phone call every morning from the Coronal asking bizarre questions from his puzzle, all ones I could answer but refused to because I was in on the bet with Daniel, not that the coronal knew. So far I was up $50! I just hope he didn't find out.

It wasn't long before we were all sat in the briefing room waiting for our CO, General Hammond to come and tell us which planet we were going to next. Hopefully it wasn't another sandy planet, I was still finding sand in places I rather not say.

"I hope it's going be a nice sunny planet next, no sand just some where I can do some fishing and have a steak." Jack lounged on his chair, hands behind his head and stared at the ceiling, just picturing his perfect planet, I bet he pictured beautiful women handing him beer as well. Jack just looked around when no one replied to his paradise island. "What?" he asked, finding no words I just laughed when he looked at me and gave him the look, the look he well knew as your being silly but I kinda like it and as always he just smiled back at me and gave me a look of his own which I knew said 'I know you find it funny'. I never know what to reply to that look so I just looked down and shook my head in response. As I took my usual spot opposite Jack with my mug of coffee, Daniel finally managed to come up with a cocky enough response for Jack.

"You know on a different planet it's not going to be made from a cow, it'll probably be some weird animal that has three heads." Daniel mumbled from over his glasses, arms full of notes, books and somehow a coffee. As he slowly managed to put all of his notes on the table, he finally took his seat next to me. I knew what Daniel was hoping for, it was the same as me, somewhere nice and cool that had ruins and gadgets so Daniel and I had something to get excited about. We could definitely go without the heat for a while, the last planet reached over 100ᵒ and with our packs on our backs, we got hot pretty quick. When we got back none of us could stand to be touched and we spent two days in infirmary with Janet. Not somewhere I would go back too anytime soon.

"Yeahhhh well, more to eat." Jack replied with a smirk as he stretched out on his chair. "Teal'c, you've been unusually quiet." Jack noted as Teal'c took his seat next to Jack, I don't know how he does it, be so sarcastic but look so serious. Years of practice I guess. To this Teal'c done his usual eyebrow raise, Jack turned in his chair to look at Teal'c when he opened his mouth but before anything could come out General Hammond walked into the room, with reports under his arm. Both Jack and I stood at attention as we were the only officers at the table, to which the General nodded at us signalling us to sit down.

"Coronal, Major, hope you folks had a pleasant night." The General asked, not really wanting an actual answer as we knew he wanted this meeting to be quick and brief. But as usual Jack and I just answered a simple 'Yes Sir'.

"So where too this time Sir? Somewhere with some big old buildings for Carter and Daniel to get excited about?" Jack queried with a smile, hoping for somewhere completely different. The General laughed in response.

"Actually Coronal, just that indeed." Jack's smile quickly faded with that answer, to which I giggled at, that warranted me with a look that quickly got me to quiet down. "The planet known as 'P3X-626' which SG-6 had a previous mission too, has a vast amount of ruins we believe have been left by the ancients. Now by the images you can all see in the report, there seems to be some kind of dialect on the ruins. Dr Jackson, do you recognise any of these symbols?" General Hammond asked, looking directly at Daniel as he quickly skimmed through the photographs that SG-6 had previously taken.

"I believe so Sir, I think I could make a rough translation." Daniel added, looking up at the general. Daniel loved this part of the missions, learning old languages and cultures and to be honest so did I.

"Good, while Major Carter and Dr Jackson are checking out the ruins, Coronal I want you and Teal'c to meet the locals see what they know about them, there could be technology there that we could use." General Hammond added as an order, knowing that talking to the locals was the last thing Jack wanted to do.

"Yes Sir" Jack added, looking a bit sorry for himself probably feeling as if he pulled the short straw. But he knew better than too question the General, well sometimes anyway.

"Good, well that'll be all folks, be ready to ship out at 0900." With that General Hammond got up from his chair along with Jack and I, with a quick nod the General left to go back to his office behind him.

"D'oh!" Jack exclaimed and grumbled out of the briefing room to go wash and pack his kit. Daniel and I just looked at each other and laughed at his exit, unlike Jack we were looking forward to this mission, there was no sand, no boiling sun and no one shooting at us which unlike Jack was our paradise and with that the three of us left the room to get ready for our upcoming mission.


	2. Chapter 2

After a quick shower, I headed my lab to fill my rucksack for the mission. It had been a while since I went for a scientific and historic expedition so I was at bit of a loss at what to pack, but after an hour of fumbling around and repacking my pack three times I had finally finished and had all the kit I thought I might need, along with a few medical supplies and ration packs because knowing our luck something just had to go wrong.

With little over an hour to go I quickly popped down to the armory and checked out my weapon so it was ready to collect on our way to the gate room. As the guys and I had to share the changing rooms (which I still think is a bit strange, after all this time) we had to come up with a deal, they could have the room until thirty minutes before it was time to depart but after that the room was women's only. I did have complains about it now and again, but well, tough. It's not like they have to do much to get ready is it? And just like clockwork, at 0830 Jack, Daniel and Teal'c strolled out of the changing room all dressed and ready to go.

"All yours Major" Jack said while fumbling with his remaining buttons on his shirt. Looking sharp and brisk Jack looked up at me as I walked down the hall towards them. You could always count on him to look smart, even in his greens. His creases were sharp and never had ladders, his boots were bright and shinning and even his rank slides were perfectly positioned. I know it's sad and completely unprofessional to think but it kinda made my heart skip a beat when he looked so smart and commanding. Daniel on the other hand did try his best but his creases were never straight, his lapel was wonky and he always managed to have a scuff on his boots, and Teal'c? Well Teal'c still couldn't be trusted with an iron.

Feeling slightly ashamed at my thoughts about Jack I quickly adjusted my sight to the floor. My god, they must all think the floor is my favourite thing on the base! "Thank you, Sir" I mumbled, still embarrassed as I quickly made my way to the door only to be stopped by a warm but rough hand on my arm which immediately gave me goose bumps. I knew whose hand it was just by that.

"You okay Carter?" Jack asked, his warm brown eyes just staring into mine. He always had a look of confusion but wonderment when he looked at me, I never knew why. His hand slowly slipped away from my arm leaving it cold and abandoned and almost immediately the goose bumps came back.

"Yes Sir" I replied a bit stronger than before, looking him in the eyes. I could see Teal'c and Daniel in the corner of my sight giving concerned looks to one another, it was sweet that they both cared about me so. Even the slightest bit of worry and they were at my side making sure that I was okay, that I was safe. I'm glad that these three were my team mates, that they were my friends and my family.

With the slightest of nods, Jack looked at the floor and back up to meet my eyes once again, with the same look of confusion. "Okay" he muttered "we'll meet you by the gate" he said a bit louder and started to walk back down the hall I just came. Daniel and Teal'c nodded in union and slowly made their own way down to the gate room. With a sigh I pushed open the door to the changing room and began to change into my greens. With my uniform ironed and my boots polished, I'd say I looked just as good as Coronal O'neill did, if I do say so myself. Putting my baseball hat in place, I took one last look in the mirror before heading out to grab my P60 and meeting the team in the gate room.

As we all stood close to the stargate ramp feeling the wind flow down through the room, I felt a sense of freedom, a rush of power. I place the cap on my head ensuring it was tight enough for that when the wormhole finally opened it didn't go flying off.

Daniel turned towards me, cleaning his glasses on his black shirt which we wore under his green top. "You got everything you think we'll need?" He asked still looking down.

"Everything I can think of" I replied just watching him in amusement as he squinted at his glasses to make sure they were clean, then finally putting them back on. The wind from the Stargate setting up made Daniels hair do a funny dance making me even more amused. After six years of being here Daniel still never wore a baseball cap, he would have rather worn the helmet they gave us when we first started. God knows why we get away with not wearing them, we were the only team not too.

We all stared at the Stargate as the final two chevrons lit up, after all this time we never got tired of seeing it, of it making our hearts leap into our throats and giving us butterflies in our stomach from the excitement of being able to go through that wormhole. It got to me every time I watched the horizon ripple like a lake on a bright, windy day.

As a rush of wind hit us nearly throwing our caps across the gate room all of us looked away from the bright tidal wave coming towards us, the sound deafening us for a minute. Absolutely beautiful and I was able to walk through it almost every day, with my team, my family. I felt amazingly blessed as the Coronal said 'ready?' to us all as we walked up the ramp side by side towards the beautiful horizon.


End file.
